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Gateway wins court appeal to evict deceased tenant’s relative
Gateway Housing Association has won a legal appeal in which it argued that a relative of a deceased tenant must leave the property despite confusion over possession documents.
The Court of Appeal ruled in favour of the London housing association, overturning the decision of a deputy district judge who ruled that a ‘notice to quit’ served to a relative of Mohammed Nuruj Ali, who died in 2018, was invalid due to a lack of clarity.
Mr Ali took out a joint tenancy with his wife Moizun Nessa in 1998 with Gateway. Mrs Nessa died in 2014, meaning Mr Ali became the sole tenant by survivorship and he used up the one succession allowed by his contract.
When Mr Ali died in 2018, the housing association served a notice to quit which told the resident left in the property that they must leave the premise by a certain date. This was sent to his personal representatives. A similar copy was also served to the public trustee, as required by law, which acts as an executor if the deceased individual has no one to act as an executor.
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Delara Begum, who claims to have married Mr Ali in Bangladesh in 1990, challenged the notice to quit because the four-week timeframe given to vacate the premises differed on the two notices. The deputy district judge initially agreed with Ms Begum’s argument and ruled that this made the notices invalid due to a lack of clarity.
The court accepted Gateway’s appeal on one of four grounds. The judge agreed with one of these ground and ruled that the notice served to Mr Ali’s relative is the operative document and so long as the public trustee receives a copy before that notice expires, it is compliant.
The Court of Appeal allowed the appeal from Gateway and the case has been sent back to the County Court to deal with the rest of the issues raised by Ms Begum in her defence.
A statement from Ms Begum’s lawyer, Manjit Mandair, an association solicitor at Osbornes Law, said: “The respondent’s legal team was surprised by the outcome of the decision of the Court of Appeal (as seems was the wider legal housing world, given the comments since the judgment was released) as it overturns Pavey, which many – including me – felt was correctly decided.
“It is an important, far-reaching precedent and one that Ms Begum’s legal team, including Justin Bates and Nick Bano consider warrants consideration by the Supreme Court for clarity.
“We have already applied for legal aid and we are hopeful that this should be granted to allow for this complex issue to be resolved and to continue this case.”
Gateway has been approached for a response.
Update: 08:45am, 13.11.20
This story was edited to include the name and firm of Ms Begum’s lawyers.
